POUGHKEEPSIE – Common Council Chairperson Sarah Salem has named newly elected Poughkeepsie Councilwoman Debra Long as chairwoman of the council’s finance committee. The decision disappointed veteran lawmaker Yvonne Flowers.
Flowers has served as a member of the finance committee for the past four years. At the beginning of the year, Flowers advised Salem that she would like to be named chairwoman of the committee. Salem instead named Long, who is in her first month on the council.
“She has disrespected me since the day she became the council chair,” Flowers said of Salem. When Salem announced the decision, Flowers immediately declined to serve on the finance committee. She told Mid-Hudson News, “I have attended every meeting of the committee during the last four years and have devoted a substantial amount of time looking at the city’s finances to make fact-based decisions on spending. She (Salem) has ignored my dedication, which I find very disrespectful.” Flowers said her concern “has nothing to do with my colleague Debra Long, My decision is based on the petty politics that Sarah participates in.”
Salem did not respond to a request seeking comment.
